My father recently gave me his old bike, a Labonne he got in the
early 70's from a bike shop owner friend of his. It says "made in
Italy" on some of the decals but not a brand I've heard of. He
told me that he got a good deal on it, and that it had been sitting
around the guys shop for a while before he finally decided to buy
it. I always knew he had it, I used to tool around on it when I was
a kid (to get to my first job, or when I couldn't bum a ride from
one of my friends who had a car). It wasn't until I finally dug it
out of his garage yesterday that I was surprised to find some
cool components on it. Gnutti hubs, Regina freewheel, Ambrosio
clinchers, Balilla brake-sets, Campy Valentino rear derailleur,
Campy Gran Sport front derailleur, Campy Gran Sport down tube
shifters. Some others I'm unfamiliar with, FG stem, Freccia d'Oro
saddle, generic looking handlebars, chainrings, cranks, bottom
bracket, and pedals. It has an Everest chain but I don't have a
chain tool and wanted to check with list members if its worth
saving before I destroy it to get at the derailleurs. The whole thing
is covered with a fair amount of garage grime, and I'm itching
to clean everything but I've never tried to clean old stuff like this
before. How do I clean this stuff without doing any damage? Is the
frame worth hanging on to? Its pretty heavy but has some inter-
esting looking chrome head-tube lugs, and chrome on the seat
stays and chain stays near the bottom and around the dropouts,
and chrome near the bottom of the fork and over the dropouts. I'd
rather offer these for trade to list members before I eBay if anyone
is interested. I'll do my best to email photos but working two jobs
doesn't leave much time for anything else.
Erik Olsson
Rochester, NY